Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1887-10-20
From Youth to Old Age.

From tho Chicago Herald.
On the Brecksville road. about six
miles from the town of Forain, O.,
lives farmer named Max Harmon.
who came from Pennsylvania about a
year ago. Harmon's family consis Is
of q wife and three children. The
oldest, named Mary. Is q young lady
nineteen years of age. who has passed
through one OF tho strangest and most
painful experiences which ever fell to
the lot OF Q human being. A short
time ago she was plump, rosy
checked girl Of robust health and of a
sunny disposition. To-day, through
the influence Of a most peculiar acct
dent, she is, in all but years, shrunk.
en-. pecvish old woman.
The story of this strange metamor-
phosis is as follows: Mary was en-
gaged to be married to a man named
Jacob EDerlein, who had followed the
Harmons from Pennsylvania, and
afterwards worked for Mr.. Harmon
and made his home with the family.
About six weeks ago the couple came
TO Cleveland to make some purchases
and see the sights. One of the young
mans friends worried in one OF the
electric light establishments at the
time. Eberlein proposed to take his
future bride through the place and
show her the machinery. 1t appears
that broken wire of her panier or
hustle had unperceiYed worked It's
way through her dress. While pass
ing along the wire came in contact
with one of the powerful electric ma
chimes, and her hand resting on an
iron bar at the time completed the cir.
cult, and she received severe shock
and fell insenSible to the floor. In q
few moments :he revived sufficiently
to be removed from the place, and was
taken to her home. The muscles of
her face were drawn and strained, but
it was thought that that would shortly
disappear.
Medical aid was summoned. For
four days the girl lay in bed in a para
lyzed condition. Then she regained
the use OF her limbs, but Immediately
began to lose flesh rapidly. The hair
on the LEFT side of her head turned gray
and began falling out. After four
weeks Miss Harmon was able to be
about and attend TO most of her house
hold duties as usual. but in that time
she had been transformed from q
young and handsome girl into feeble
old woman. Her form, which had
been plump and rounded, was thin and
bent. and the skin on her face and
body was dry and wrinkled. She had
been a sweet-tcmpered, sffectionate
girl, but Is now peeyish, irritable and
selfish.
Her voice is harsh and cracked and
no one to look at her would imagine
that she was less than so years of age.
The Harmon family are Mortified and
well nigh heart-broken by the fate OF
their once handsome daughter, while
young Eberlein is almost frantic over
the change in his affianced bride. The
physicians claim that the electric cur
rent communicated directly with the
principal nerves OF the spine and the
left side of the head and that the shock
almost completely destroyed their vi
iality. Strange TO relate the girls eye
sight is but slightly affected, but her
hearing is almost totally destroyed.
Notwithstanding her condition, the
physicians claim that her chances for
living her allotted number of years
are not materially lessened, although
she can never recover from her prema-
turely aged ndition. Instances in
which q persons hair has turned
white in q single night from fright,
grief or some excessive nervous shock
are not rare, but this is supposed to be
the first case in medical history in
which q person has been known TO
step from the bloom of vigorous youth
into the decrepitude of old age within
A week.